Arranged Marriage
by Sapphire-sama Dreamer
Summary: Prince Yugi and Prince Atem have been arranged to marry in one year's time. With a poor first meeting as the starting point will the two ever make it to the ceremony? Atem/Yugi all the way. Warning: Contains a fantasy version of Japan and a not entirely accurate version of Ancient Egypt. - Please read and review. I would like to know your thoughts everyone. Flames will be ignored!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan written story. Yu-gi-oh is property of Kazuki Takahashi please support the official release.

A/N: This is an AU. Japan will be very different from what it was like in ancient times and what it is today. I tried to mix the country into a version of itself with elements from both its ancient and modern times. I also added some futuristic elements to it. Egypt will be closer to what it actually was, but not one hundred percent accurate. If Japan seems to be too good to be true you're free to blame it on my bias of the country.

Chapter 1: First Meeting

Prince Yugi of Kreesol, Japan [1] sat in the dressing room of his cabin on the ship that would take him to Khemet, Egypt putting the finishing touches on his appearance. When he was finished he picked up after himself and left the room. Clearing his throat he got the attention of his attendant.

"Well? What do you think?" He asked.

"Oh Yugi, you look wonderful." His white haired, green eyed attendant replied, smiling genuinely.

"Thanks Ryou." Yugi said, smiling in return. "Now go get changed. I left something more fitting of your status in there." He pressed, nodding towards the room he'd just come out of.

"Yugi, I can't wear this, it's too nice for one of my status where we're going." Ryou argued, coming out of the dressing room with the outfit Yugi had set out for him in hand, and pointing at it as he spoke leaving no room for misunderstanding of what he was speaking about.

"You just said it yourself. It's too nice for your status to the people of where we're going." Yugi remarked dismissively.

"You can and will wear it. No-one from our country will ever look like filth under my family's rule. Now go, and burn the outfit you're wearing now. I didn't say anything before because I was preoccupied with getting ready, but I can't stand to see you in something so plain! You're a citizen of Japan and you should dress like one no matter where you go." He ranted on leaving no room for argument.

Having said his peace, Yugi sat down on one of the queen sized beds in the bedroom of the cabin and shooed Ryou into the dressing room with some hand gestures and sign language. He smiled when his attendant let out a defeated sigh and finally went to do as he'd said. Ryou came out just in time, fore a knock was heard on the main door to the cabin.

Ryou unsheathed the sword on his back and ushered Yugi over. The prince knew what to do. They walked through the cabin to the main door, Ryou always a step ahead of Yugi, as they moved in perfect sync back to back. Yugi opened the door just a crack and Ryou flanked him from the side, his sword's blade aimed between the door and his charge, gleaming at potential threats warningly.

"State your business." The attendant said, staring the two guards down and already calculating a way to deal with them should they pose a threat.

"Master Yugi, Sir Ryou please accompany us. The ship has docked at Port Nile. We have reached your destination." One of them said, causing Ryou to nudge the door open and let them in.

Yugi was not exactly defenseless seeing as he had two swords on his back and one at each side and Ryou was confident in his prince's skill as well as his own. He knew they could over power the guards if they tried a sneak attack. If they were ambushed by a large fleet or an allied rebellion of the guards on board then they might have a problem.

The ferries were loaded with guards and workers from all over the world, and so passengers could never be too careful, especially royals. Thus far, the twenty year ferry service had proved a good idea on part of the royals who came up with it. There had only been a few minor incidents, and none of them had involved royalty.

"Very well. Please lead the way." Yugi said, as Ryou sheathed his sword, but kept his hand on the hilt.

As they were escorted through the ship, Yugi took the beautiful ocean liner in one last time. Ryou just focused on protecting his charge. He gave Yugi's right hand a light squeeze to get his attention and leaned down to whisper in the prince's ear that he would be back in a moment and he should be alert then ducked into a room to remind the head of the luggage department to be careful with their things, and quickly caught up with his prince and the guards.

Yugi held his free hand the rest of the way, releasing it only when they were on the solid ground of the stone port. A small fleet of guards from the Egyptian Palace approached them with a pair of priests and they were escorted to a nearby road where a carriage was waiting for them. Ryou helped Yugi on and quickly claimed the spot next to him. The priests sat across from them and the carriage began moving.

"Prince Yugi, I am Seto. This is Mahad. It is our pleasure to make your acquaintance. We sincerely hope you enjoy Egypt." One of the two priests spoke up, prompting a conversation.

"Priest Seto, Priest Mahad, the pleasure is mine, and I too hope I'll enjoy your country. My father has told me many a tale of it, and I feel my expectations may be too high." Yugi said, folding his hands on his lap.

"I will pray so that such will not be the case Prince Yugi." Mahad said, causing Yugi to smile.

"Thank you Priest Mahad. I will be counting on that prayer." He said.

"Prince Yugi, who is this young man that accompanies you? Your father said you would be bringing someone along, but we were not expecting them to look like him." Seto spoke up again, seeing his chance to inquire about the other stranger.

"Pardon? What were you expecting my companion to look like?" Yugi remarked, seeming genuinely confused.

"I told you I should've worn something they would expect." Ryou said, enlightening Yugi instantly.

"Oh, I see now. I take it you were expecting a slave or a servant correct?" Yugi began, receiving a nod from the priests.

"This young man with me is nothing of the sort. His name is Ryou and he has been my attendant for twelve years now." He explained.

"How old are you? You seem to have been trusted with a considerable task at a very young age." Seto reared on Ryou.

"I'm twenty four, and I had been trained hard since I could walk so that I would be ready for the job." Ryou explained, noticing how the priest's eyes had become glued to the necklace he wore.

"If I remember correctly the necklace you wear is only branded upon slaves, as means to distinguish them from servants and other workers. That is mostly why I inquired about you." Seto said.

"Ryou's parents were born into slavery. On the day Ryou was born my father granted their family freedom. Since his mother had passed in childbirth and was cremated with hers, Ryou took to wearing his father's after he too passed on, purely for sentimental reasons." Yugi explained.

"I see. Mahad and I will explain the situation to the Pharaoh, and get the story spreading among the people, but beware Ryou, you may still encounter some problems because of it." Seto said.

"I think I can handle myself, but thank you for doing what you can." Ryou said, just as the carriage stopped.

After they were back on solid ground, Ryou noticed the carriage behind the one that had brought them and saw some familiar luggage being unloaded from it. Glad to see it had arrived safely he quickly followed his charge and the priests into the palace.

After a bit over ten minutes of walking they reached the doors to the throne room. Seto and Mahad pushed them open after receiving permission to enter. Ryou stood next to Yugi in the center of the room, and heard the echo of the doors banging shut behind them. Seto and Mahad joined the other priests at the long rectangular table to the right.

"Prince Yugi, Sir Ryou it is good to finally have you with us." The Pharaoh, Aknamkanon said, and the Japanese duo bowed deeply, remaining on one knee respectfully.

"Pharaoh Aknamkanon, it is a pleasure to finally meet you and I'm glad that at least someone here, knows of Ryou's status and situation and addresses him with the proper respect." Yugi said, keeping steel eye contact with him.

"You may rise." The Pharaoh said, before nodding towards the second rectangular table in the room, placed to the left.

"Please sit. I am most ashamed to inform that my son has disappeared on me, but fear not the wait shall be short. I have men looking all over for him."

Just as the Japanese duo sat down the throne room doors were pushed open. A young man stepped inside and began sprinting towards Aknamkanon's side. Yugi got up and walked back to the center of the room, Ryou following suit. The Japanese prince looked to the Pharaoh.

"Is that your son?" He asked, sparing the newcomer a glance.

"Yes indeed he is. Atem this is Prince Yugi and beside him is Sir Ryou. These are our honored guests from Japan, who will be here for the next six months." Aknamkanon said, prompting his son with his eyes to introduce himself.

"Hello Prince Yugi. It is a pleasure to meet you and might I say you of Japan certainly decorate your slaves well." Atem said, not expecting to find himself in a heap on the floor from a powerful smack.

Aknamkanon, Ryou, and the priests were all surprised by Yugi's action. Ryou pulled his charge to his chest and struggled to hold on to him as the smaller male resisted. When he realized Ryou wasn't going to release him Yugi stilled and addressed the Egyptian prince verbally.

"Your words are an offense I will not stand for! If we are ever to be joined in matrimony it shan't be until you have learned to have consideration for those around you!" He seethed, ignoring the fact that guards were closing in on him and his attendant.

"Aknamkanon as you take responsibility for the actions and words of your people heed me. Upset me once shame on you, upset me twice shame on me for letting you but take my forgiveness, do so a third time however and I will bite back." He continued, redirecting his attention to the Pharaoh.

"Let me make this loud and clear." He said, glaring heatedly at every Egyptian in the room.

"Ryou is my attendant, not my servant, and most definitely not my slave! It is true that the necklace he wears formed by a gold collar and an equally gold medallion is used to distinguish slaves from servants and other workers in my country, but Ryou wears his father's purely for sentimental reasons. He himself has never been a slave, and did my father not state clearly in the letter sent a month ago 'the person with my son is his attendant not a slave or servant'?" Yugi finally released by Ryou, who's hold had gone slack, turned his back to the Pharaoh and his son after this.

"We of the Japanese Royal Family treat all of our people with as much respect as they deserve, even the slaves. Also, although we do have workers labeled slaves, the slavery in our country is nothing like what it is here, or anywhere else for that matter. We aren't forceful with them. We do not overwork them. We do not punish them physically, unless we can see no other option that would make them cooperative. And, if it were up to us, slavery would not exist in our country, at all!" He admonished, with much passion.

"My siblings and I fight constantly to expel it, even going as far as to wander our empire door to door granting them their freedom, and taking them in if they have nowhere to go. Then we work on educating them, so that they have a way to make a living for themselves." Exhausted from the journey to Egypt and his monologue, Yugi collapsed to the floor, breathing hard.

"Yugi, you idiot. How many times do Bijoumaru, Azumi, your father, and I have to tell you not to push yourself so hard before you actually listen? You didn't get much sleep on the way here did you? I thought something was up." Ryou ranted, cradling his small charge.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it. And yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I barely slept on the way here. I was too busy drawing up plans for the extension to the castle we agreed upon. It was worth it too, the design was approved and B said he'd get a crew together and start on the project in the last message he sent." Yugi rebuttled, causing Ryou to sigh.

"Yugi, you're infuriating!" He exclaimed, and Yugi laughed earning a half hearted glare from him.

"Give me the Supercell [2]." He ordered.

Yugi knowing he had just lost his privileges to his work station and favorite entertainment system reached into his undershirt unzipped a hidden pocket and pulled out the Supercell, a small silver device that looked like a bear figurine. Ryou took it gladly, putting it away in a pocket of his own undershirt.

"Pharaoh Aknamkanon, might my charge rest for a few hours and perhaps begin anew with your son thereafter?" He inquired, getting back to his feet and bringing a clingy Yugi with him.

"Yes Ryou, I think that would be for the best. Seto will lead you to your room." The monarch said, and waited until they had gone before dismissing the other priests and looking at his son.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting him to have that much strength given how small he is." Atem replied, finally moving the hand he'd unknowingly placed upon his now swelled cheek to his side.

"More importantly are you actually going to let him get away with striking me?" He asked, getting to his feet.

"I believe the way you worded yourself justifies his actions. I may have to leave Aknadin in charge when you go to Japan with Yugi so that he may have his final seasons with his family and people before coming to live here almost permanently and see that superpower for myself once more. After all Yugi spoke of things that were not so the last time I visited and I am curious." Aknamkanon said, before dismissing him as well.

Atem went to his chamber and thought back on the meeting. Realizing that he had to gain Yugi's favor for the sake of his country he figured he should go try to redeem himself. He got off his bed and leaving his chamber altogether, walked the two minutes or so across the hall to the door of the chamber Yugi and Ryou would be staying in for six months. He sounded the door knocker a few times and waited. In a few minutes he found himself face to face with Ryou.

A/N: Well there's chapter 1. What do you think? Good? Bad? Should I stop or keep going?

[1] Kreesol, Japan. – As far as I know it's not a real place. It's a fantasy capital city I came up with for the country.

[2] Supercell – A made up portable work station and entertainment device. You could call it a premature computer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Ryou and Bakura

Atem didn't say anything or move for a good minute taking in Ryou's appearance. The other male had long waist length somewhat wild white hair, the bangs over his forehead and the locks that framed his face being the only fully tame tresses. He had emerald eyes, a pointed nose, and rose pink lips. His skin was pale and looked like it would scar and bruise easily.

His petite body structure clashed with his tall height and was adorned in a white undershirt, a light blue knee length kimono with intricate greenery on it, white Capri pants, and thin white socks with the straps of his black sandals crisscrossing around them. He noted that Ryou's sword was still on his back, catching sight of the end of the sheath and the hilt of the sword. The length of the sheathed sword itself was hidden by Ryou's voluminous hair.

Just like Atem was taking in Ryou's appearance, the attendant was taking in his. Atem's hair held his attention for a good while. It was colorful and wild. The tips were red like his ruby eyes, the main layer was black, and the third layer and his bangs were golden blond.

Ryou remembered that one of the priests had similar colorful and wild hair and guessed they were related somehow. Atem's skin was beautifully tanned and had a sheen to it, that probably came from whatever skin care products he used. He was somewhat taller than Yugi but still much shorter than himself.

The Egyptian prince wore gold silk Noir robes [1] with no sleeves and the pants of these robes were short, not even reaching his knees. He had a dark blue cape on and some gold jewelry on his arms and around his ankles that matched his clothes. His feet were adorned by gold stick-strap sandals.

The prince was attractive, but he definitely didn't look like Yugi's type and that made Ryou avert his gaze to his charge sadly. A pang of sympathy hitting him.

"It would cost me my life, but I swear to you if he converges with you and you hurt him I will kill you. If you hurt him before you two can converge I will be most delighted to make the first move against your country. Yugi would not like it, but protecting him is my job and if war was the result of me doing so, that would just be too bad, yet oh so sad." He said, surprising himself, but not willing to take back his words as he knew he spoke the truth.

"H-how dare you?" Atem hissed, raising a hand towards the man's face, but Ryou caught it and held on tightly, and Atem swore mentally it felt like his fingers would break.

"I hope you're not planning on topping him. As you are now, he will overpower you easily. Are you a child or are you really a man?" The attendant bit, pulling his sword from it's sheathe with his free hand, and releasing Atem, only to push him to the floor and put the blade to his neck, but a swing from another sword caused his to go flying over to the wall behind him and be embedded there.

"Ryou, what in Kami's name were you doing?" Yugi asked, sheathing his own sword reuniting it with it's brother on his back.

"Nothing alarming." Ryou replied, going to retrieve his sword.

"Your promised one is no man Yugi. He wishes to start over, so go on and get to know him a bit. I will shadow you as light energy." He added, sheathing his sword, before disappearing.

"Ugh, I hate it when he does that." Yugi said, sighing heavily.

"Where did he go?" Atem asked, having recovered from his encounter with Ryou and gotten to his feet.

"He became hikari hokori or light particles. In a nutshell he became the light that's all around us and so I cannot hide from him anywhere. He's also leaving me with his other self who should be arriving where he was, right about…now." Yugi replied.

Just as he said another man appeared where Ryou had been and smirked at Yugi. His hair was even longer than Ryou's reaching his knees, and his eyes were a dark chocolate brown. His skin wasn't as pale as Ryou's and he wore a vampire-like get-up. Yugi sighed and walked over to the man, going slack as he was embraced.

"Nice to see you too Chibi." The man said, taking one of Yugi's hands and bringing it to his mouth.

"Must you?" Yugi asked, flinching as the man sunk fangs into three of his fingers, and began to suck the life essence right out of him in response.

"What the hell is going on here? Is he a real vampire?" Atem asked a few minutes later, as he'd needed time to get over the shock of what seemed to be going on in front of him, getting their attention.

The man released Yugi's fingers, the cuts made by his fangs gone and the skin unscathed. He glared at Atem, not very happy to have his feeding time interrupted. He walked over to one of the beds and set Yugi down on it, then sat beside him. Yugi leaned on him causing him to wrap an arm around the little one's waist.

"Who's your friend?" He asked.

"Atem this is Bakura. Bakura that is my betrothed, Prince Atem of Khemet, Egypt. And yes Atem, he really is a vampire. He's the reason why Ryou got stuck training from such a young age to watch over me. Bakura lives inside of him as the darkness to his light. I don't really know why he's a vampire considering Ryou isn't, but the specifics of the situation have never really been explained to me." Yugi said.

"This is kind of difficult to wrap my brain around." Atem said, pulling the chair from the vanity over towards the bed the two were sitting on, and sinking tiredly into it.

"I will have no qualms with you if you do not hurt Yugi. Do so and I'll suck you dry." Bakura said, pulling away from Yugi, who whined.

"Yeah, I know. For all you claim to hate me, you sure like to hold me. Don't worry, I'll always be your teddy bear." He said, causing the small prince to blush.

"Will you just go away already?" Yugi snapped, but anyone watching should clearly have noticed it was only half heartedly.

"Restrictions?" Bakura inquired.

"The usual." Yugi replied, flushing at the kiss Bakura blew him, before he disappeared.

Atem, who had taken the time they were ignoring him to take in his promised one's appearance was still staring at him, rather entranced by him. Yugi's hair was nearly as unique as his own. It was three colors. The bottom layer consisted of thin tresses that matched his amethyst eyes, the middle layer was thick and black, and the top layer was golden blond. There were three bunches of locks framing his face.

One batch was purple, the second was black, and the last was blond. They were going from back to front like the cascading tresses that spanned the length of his back. Yugi's petite body was adorned by a white undershirt, a dark blue knee length kimono with intricate gold runes on it, white Capri pants with gold trim, and white socks almost completely hidden by the black ankle boots he wore. Yugi had a sword at either side and two on his back.

Atem was snapped out of the trance when Yugi started putting his hair in a high ponytail. The golden butterfly scrunchie that held it was beautiful. Looking around he realized Bakura was gone.

"Hey, where did he disappear to? Is he watching you from somewhere like Ryou?" He asked.

"Bakura went to enjoy himself, but he'll come running if I'm in any danger. A convenient ability of his, that I stopped trying to understand years ago." Yugi said.

"You and yours are strange folks Yugi." Atem commented honestly.

"Heh, I feel the same about you Egyptians. We should probably go socialize as Ryou said." Yugi rebuttled.

"What's wrong with continuing right here?" Atem asked, and Yugi didn't miss the perverse undertone.

"Because if we stay here you're probably going to end up dismembered Darling." He replied, causing Atem to sigh, get up, and motion for Yugi to follow him.

"You have a surprisingly powerful smack Yugi." The Egyptian prince commented as they walked.

"I doubt that was a compliment, but just so you know I can't really help it. My sister, Azumi, made me practice it believe it or not." Yugi said.

"It wasn't. That hurt like hell little one. And I can't fathom why she would make you practice something like that." Atem said.

"She said it would be useful in the future. I'm starting to understand why." Yugi said, reaching out a hand and running the index finger there over Atem's swelled cheek.

"Humph!" Atem huffed, shoving Yugi against a wall suddenly and stealing a kiss before the other could react.

He quickly continued walking, but Yugi just slumped to the ground and Atem realized when he heard sobbing that he had made the smaller prince cry.

"What's wrong? What did I do?" He asked, sitting beside him.

"Well first of all, where I hail from intimacy between couples is basically reserved for when thy're in private and these halls are probably crawling with hidden guards or your father's spies. Secondly, that was a terrible first kiss. I don't really see what there is to look forward to when it comes to you." Yugi replied.

Atem, fuming because of the last bit, cupped Yugi's face in his hands and kissed him once more. This time he took Yugi's surprised disposition as a chance to explore his mouth with his tongue.

He did so for a while, and when he went to pull away due to lack of air Yugi began to kiss back so he moved one hand to Yugi's waist and the other to the back of his head, and began to war for control with him. Yugi gave up after a few minutes and disconnected from him, breathing hard.

"Better?" Atem inquired.

"Haven't decided yet. You have a sloppy tongue." Yugi said, but his facial expression gave the fact that he was teasing away, and the mirth in his eyes also betrayed him.

"Perhaps, but this sloppy tongued prince just made your day, did he not?" Atem rebuttled, poking Yugi's nose.

"Mm, maybe." Yugi said, getting up and walking off.

"I'm still not willing to marry you though. Work harder Egyptian." He said, running off when Atem gave chase.

'I like his playful side. Maybe this won't be so bad.' Was a thought that ran through both their minds as the game of cat and mouse continued.

A/N: There is chapter 2. Let me know if your thoughts please. Oh and the Bakura in this chapter is Yami no Bakura not Thief King Bakura/Akefia. I made him a vampire purely for the hell of it. At the moment it's not meant to serve a purpose. And no he and Yugi are not in love. Bakura just likes to tease Yugi and Yugi likes to hold him for a reason that will be explained later.

[1] Noir robes – If you ever watched the anime Noir the outfits Chloe and Kirika wear in the last few episodes after going through the purification ceremony to become the "True Noir" is where I got the inspiration for these. I've seen a number of pictures of Atem in similar clothes to what I described here regardless so if you need better imagery just look up pictures of Atem or watch the last three episodes of Noir.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Enough is Enough, It's time for Change

Atem and Yugi talked in one of the public gardens for a while. They learned each other's ages. Atem was surprised Yugi was sixteen because of his height, but then realized how small the height difference between them actually was even though he himself was eighteen. Yugi told Atem about his father and siblings and about his beloved home city Kreesol.

By the time he was done Atem confessed he wished the six months Yugi was to stay in Egypt would pass quickly because he couldn't wait to see Japan. Yugi had teased him saying he would be heading home alone if Atem couldn't win him over during his visit. Atem had taken it seriously, becoming quite upset and Yugi trying to pacify him had ended in a sweet kiss and them falling into one of the pools scattered about the palace yards.

Yugi had made it clear after they changed clothes that the Egyptian Royal Family and the people of Egypt would be welcomed with open arms in Japan for the time being. The two then started talking again, on their way back to the public gardens. Atem told Yugi a bit about his everyday life and how he longed to get out of the palace more often.

"Wait in your chambers tomorrow after breakfast and I will help you sneak out of here. I'll be pushing your father's buttons, but if I am going to live here more or less permanently soon, then I want to see what the people are like first hand." Yugi said, already formulating a plan.

"Yugi, I can't. My father is already boiling with anger at me due to previous escapes and with you here he will only consider it ten times more offending and sentence me to manual labor or worse, beat me and whip me." Atem supplied in return, causing Yugi to draw him into a hug.

"I will take full responsibility if we get caught. Trust me, you won't be punished. Not if I can help it." He vowed.

After that Atem introduced Yugi to Senet and Mehen and Yugi had managed to beat him a few times mastering the games in just a few hours. Yugi then retrieved a game from his room and soon enough was introducing Atem to Shogi. He won the first two times they played, but lost the third.

Both princes were happy to have someone to play with that shared their skill level. Taking note of the fact that it was almost time for dinner Atem pushed away from the gaming table and got up from his chair.

"This has been fun Yugi, but I must bid you farewell for now. There's someone I promised to go see before dinner." He said.

"I agree, and must you really?" Yugi too got up.

"I would like to accompany you. If it's alright of course." He said, putting the game pieces and boards back in their boxes quickly, but not disorganized.

"I suppose you would meet her eventually, so yes. If you would truly like to accompany me, feel free to do so." Atem said, waving a servant over and telling her where to take the respective game boxes.

"You know, you didn't have to clean up out there. There were plenty of servants around." He admonished, as he and Yugi walked through the palace.

"The majority of the workers I've seen in this palace look rather tired. I'd bet my country most of them are overworked, and I didn't wish to add to that." Yugi remarked, and as though to help his point be better made, one of the women scrubbing grime off the walls collapsed.

Yugi rushed over, Atem just a step behind. The smaller prince sat down not caring that the floor was wet from when the bucket of soap-water tipped over when the woman collapsed, and settled her upper body against him, his chest against her back. Moving blond locks out of her face he touched her forehead, but was forced to pull his hand away fast because of how high her body temperature was.

"Hm…w-who are you?" The woman questioned slowly, purple eyes shining with pained unshed tears fluttering open but returning to darkness just as quickly as they'd seen the light.

"Atem, do you know her name?" Yugi asked, looking to the Egyptian prince who was crouching next to them.

"Yes, and you're probably going to throw a fit if I tell you who she is on top of giving your her name." Atem replied, taking the woman from Yugi.

"Try me." Yugi said, following him as he did an about face and sprinted off in the direction they'd just come from.

"Her name is Mai." Atem said.

"And?" Yugi pressed.

"…She's…my older sister." Atem replied, almost inaudibly.

"I see." Yugi said, the sigh he let out showing disappointment.

"Why was she excluded from the royal family?" He asked.

"I don't know." Atem replied.

"I've never had the guts to ask my father that." He confessed, pushing open a door as they reached the end of a corridor.

A woman turned to see who had entered and stared in surprise. Yugi recognized her as Isis, the priestess who was in the throne room when he and Ryou had arrived.

"My prince, and Prince Yugi as well. What brings you to this place?" She bowed, then spied Mai.

"What happened?" She asked, motioning for Atem to place her on one of the beds in the room.

"She collapsed and she's running a fever. It looks like she's been beaten again as well." Atem replied, taking note of the marks on Mai's legs for the first time.

Isis rolled up the other woman's sleeves revealing more marks. She sighed and began to treat Mai.

"I'm going to go have a talk with your father." Yugi said, taking off before Atem could protest.

'Yugi, what are you thinking?' Atem wondered, as he sat down in a chair against a wall to wait for Isis's diagnostic.

It took Yugi an entire half hour to find the Pharaoh, but when he did he marched right up to the man and spit in his face. Then he unsheathed one of his swords and tackled the man to the floor of the drawing room, putting the blade to his neck and glaring down at him.

"Tell me Pharaoh, what makes your daughter so terrible that you refuse to acknowledge her as such? Why have you stripped her of her birth rights? Why do you allow her to be abused? And do tell, is it your work? Tell me why!" He hissed, angrily, passionately, his vision blurred by tears.

"Prince Yugi, put your sword away. You are not thinking rationally." Aknamkanon said, remaining calm.

"Like hell!" Yugi exclaimed, the blade of his sword cutting very slightly into the subdued man's neck.

"Boy, have you gone mad? Think about what you're doing! Your actions may easily result in war!" The Pharaoh raged, shaking in his skin quite visibly with great fear.

"From what I've seen just in this hell you call a palace your people would be better off dead!" Yugi spat back, but backed away, and sheathed his sword.

"This thing you call an empire, is an embarrassment, a joke. You are a ruler who's face belongs on the Joker card." He said, punching a hole through a column nearby.

"But I am not like you. Before he fell ill, I promised my father I would go through with this arrangement. Out of respect if nothing else. I have no intention of breaking that promise. So help me gods, I will make this work!" He concluded, and headed for the exit.

"And just where do you think you're going? Men, get him!" Aknamkanon veered.

"Yes, grab my charge and make my day. And please do try your best to kill him." The Pharaoh found himself in Ryou's grip, the attendant's sword at his throat.

"W-where did you come from?" Aknamkanon questioned, as Ryou forced him to his knees.

"I've been here the entire time, watching Yugi from just about every angle. Things were looking up until he discovered Mai. When Atem told him they were related all of the progress made disappeared. You should probably explain yourself if you still want this to work out." Ryou explained.

"Fine. Men you're dismissed. One of you tell my son to get over here though. I'm not telling this story twice." The Pharaoh said, breathing a sigh of relief when Ryou removed his sword from his throat and sheathed it.

When Atem arrived in the drawing room the quartet sat down at the large round table there and Aknamkanon began his story. It turned out Mai was not his daughter at least not by blood. Atem couldn't believe his mother had been unfaithful to his father and ran from the room after bursting into tears. Yugi glared at Aknamkanon, annoyed.

"I still think you're a joke. Rulers are supposed to take care of their people not harm them. The majority of your workers look overworked and if Atem going to Isis for Mai's treatment is any indication they don't get proper medical treatment. Or the time off to properly recover, am I correct?" He ranted, receiving a nod from the man, who quickly bowed his head – presumably in shame.

"Tomorrow Atem and I are going into the city. We are going to see first hand what needs to be changed in this country. And you are going to let us. Otherwise, I am going home and bringing not just the Japanese army but those of some allies as well, to conquer your country and take it as my own." Yugi declared, before motioning for Ryou to follow him as he took off towards the door.

"Enough is enough Pharaoh, it's time for change." Was the last thing he said to the man, before allowing Ryou to let the door close.

'What I feared has come to pass. Yugi has decided to take matters into his own hands and make something great out of this country.' Ryou thought, feeling a headache coming on just thinking about what his stubborn charge would do next.

A/N: You're getting carried away with your favortism. I mean even you should see you're making the Japanese immensely superior to the Egyptians. You're probably all thinking that. You're only half right though. Yugi should technically be dead for spitting in Aknamkanon's face after all.

But since both sides want to preserve peace and the arranged marriage to work out there's some room for flexibility. I am also using Yugi's hatred of the state Egypt is currently in to further the plot and to build Atem's character from a sheltered prince to a responsible one. And what did you all think of Mai's predicament? Let me know your thoughts in a review! Until next time, farewell!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Like A Puppet

After the talk with Aknamkanon, Yugi wasn't sure what he should do. He wanted to go see if Atem was okay, but he also wanted to address the issues surrounding the workers. Deciding to leave checking on Atem for later, he took off to find the kitchens. Ryou sighed and chased after him.

Roughly twenty minutes later Yugi finally entered his destination and Ryou sat down on the floor near the entrance to rest, his eyes never leaving his charge who walked around the kitchens, food storage rooms, and freezers examining everything calculatingly.

Yugi noted that the food storage rooms and freezers were all barely half full and then saw the small feast on a long table near the back wall that was probably for the royal family, priests, and guests. He wandered into the workers dining hall knowing Ryou would follow and walked around observing them as they ate.

The lack of variety of food on their plates and the fact that some of them didn't have anything to drink to accompany their small meal made him feel sick.

'How can Aknamkanon just sit back and ignore this situation? Does he think it'll just go away? And if this is what it's like here, how bad is it out in the city itself?' He thought, sprinting out of there and all the way through the kitchens, wishing he knew his way around better so that he could work faster.

"Ryou, can you remember the way to our room?" He inquired, trying not to let his frustration show in his demeanor or through his tone.

"I need to see Atem and I know his is right across from ours." He offered in explanation, at the confused look his attendant gave him in return.

"You're not going to sleep tonight either are you?" Ryou asked, his worry coming through loud and clear, as he started to lead his charge to his chosen destination.

"I doubt I need to answer that my friend." Yugi remarked, to which Ryou chose to reply by crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

"Sorry, but as I've said many times before. I can't help it." He supplied, chuckling at his attendant's childishness.

"I don't think my father sent me here just to get to know Atem." He said, gearing the conversation in a different direction.

"Oh? Do tell my prince, what is it that brain of yours has come up with?" Ryou prompted, taking on a more relaxed disposition, his right hand finding the hilt of his sword reflexively as usual.

"I've been had Ryou." Yugi said, disappointedly.

"My love for Father and Mother has been my undoing." He declared, bowing his head.

"Yugi, what are you talking about?" Ryou asked, placing his free hand on his charge's shoulder.

"All this time I thought he was just having me honor Mother's final wish, and that he gave me a year to adjust to it all out of kindness, but all that he was doing, was setting things up so that he could gain an ally that wouldn't be a burden in the end. He no doubt expects me to change this empire into one he can be satisfied being friends with during my six months here. Then he'll let me relax during the other six in my comfort zone back home as a reward just so he can see the progress." Yugi explained, resisting the urge to cry.

"And he knows that because of your nature, you won't be able to stop yourself from doing just that." Ryou concluded for him with a sigh.

"Yugi, it's okay to cry. You don't always have to hold in your pain until it becomes too much." He reminded the small prince, drawing him into a comforting embrace.

"I know, but right now I haven't the time for it. Gods, I'm like a puppet right now. Wish I could resist doing what he wants, but I can't." Yugi said, soaking in Ryou's tender loving care, and stubbornly refraining from shedding a single tear.

"I don't think that Yugi, I don't think that at all. Perhaps to him you might be nothing more than that, depressingly enough. But I believe, that you are an angel Yugi. An advent of the gods. You understand the value of humanity despite your status, and everywhere you go you leave behind hope somehow." Ryou remarked, and Yugi laughed.

"What? It's true!" He bit out, slightly offended by his charge.

"It's sweet of you to say Ryou, but you've gotta admit it sounded really corny." Yugi said, withdrawing from the embrace.

"Oh yeah? Well whatever." Ryou just shrugged at Yugi's analysis.

"Come along little prince, Atem's room isn't too far off now." He admonished, speeding up a bit.

"Hey now, you're supposed to be the one who chases." Yugi retorted, but obeyed regardless.

In two minutes they were standing outside Atem's room. Yugi wasn't expecting the one to answer the door to be Aknamkanon, but nonetheless took the opportunity to get on his knees and apologize to the man.

"I have seen that some of the suffering your people are facing is not your fault and beg your forgiveness Pharaoh. If you wish to punish me for my earlier outburst I am at your mercy." He said keeping his head bowed.

"I do not know if allowing outside influence upon my people is wise or not, but you are most passionate about rectifying what I have done wrong. And I do admit that I have Yugi." Aknamkanon said, holding out a hand to help Yugi back to his feet.

"The happening in the drawing room has been replaying repeatedly in my head. You have my eternal thanks little prince, for reawakening my long dormant concern for this country of mine." He concluded, and Yugi smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that." The foreign prince said, his smile turning into a frown in the blink of an eye.

"I must warn you though, despite the fact that it repulses me, I am nothing but a puppet right now. My father's true reason for sending me here and giving this betrothal such a long commencement period, is to change Egypt from the inside into a country he would not consider a burdeness ally. And my nature will keep me from resisting. I simply cannot be comfortable in a setting where people around me are suffering." He drawled.

"Your father sounds just as ambitious as I remember him to be." Aknamkanon commented, chuckling for a moment.

"Do not feel used little one. Kenshin and I go back a long time. He loves his children and his country more than anything, even though it may not appear that way sometimes." He said, knowing what must have gone through Yugi's head when he realized his father's plan.

"Additionally he has always had the best interest of my empire in mind in the past and I would like to believe that has not changed, despite how underhanded his approach appears this time. You remind me of him. You both are very stubborn, and you seem to share the trait of being very hands-on about helping others. For now I will take your being here as a blessing not a curse. You should get some rest, I intend to seek your help in political and public affairs after breakfast, and you should be ready." Rant concluded, Aknamkanon bid Yugi and Ryou goodnight and walked away.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief feeling better about the who and why responsible for him being in Egypt. Ryou reminded him of why they were outside of Atem's room. Yugi mentally debated with himself about whether or not what he wanted to ask the other prince could wait until the next morning and soon began walking across the hall to his and Ryou's own.

"Tonight you will get your wish Ryou, I will get a proper night's sleep." He informed.

"Relieving as that is, now I must inquire about dinner." Ryou said.

"Should I go get you something to eat, or are you going to refrain from eating three meals a day until the matter of the food shortage is resolved, as you've done back home in the past?" He asked, hoping Yugi's answer would surprise him.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." Yugi said, and Ryou sighed.

"Then I will not eat either." He declared.

"You don't have to do that Ryou." Yugi said, but Ryou made a dismissive gesture letting him know the matter was settled.

"You had best go shower and prepare for bed little one." He said instead, opening the door to their room.

"Yeah, yeah." Yugi grumbled, feeling the shift in the atmosphere as Ryou and Bakura split into two.

"Your vampire boyfriend here is on night shift." The attendant began, toss a nod Bakura's way but Yugi didn't see it.

"I'm going to shower and get ready for bed myself. If I'm asleep before you're done, know that I wish you sweet dreams." He concluded, grabbing some night clothes and a few other things, and heading into the second washroom.

"Do not feed off him tonight, he didn't eat dinner." He told Bakura, knowing he would probably ignore him, but figuring he should say it anyway, before closing the washroom door.

Bakura took off his cape, shirt, and boots, and laid down on Yugi's bed to wait for him. Yugi came out first, in a black tank top and matching booty shorts. He got into his bed and cuddled up with his head on Bakura's chest.

The vampire pulled the covers over them and wrapped his arms around the small prince, letting the sound of his heartbeat lull Yugi to sleep.

"You can feed you know." Yugi whispered, knowing he wanted to.

"After Ryou goes to sleep Chibi. I don't want to hear his complaints." Bakura whispered back, and moving a hand to Yugi's hair, began to softly comb the tresses with his fingers.

Yugi was asleep by the time Ryou came out, and when the attendant had been taken by sleep, the vampire gently moved Yugi into a better position and began to drink from his neck. Yugi stirred slightly at the action because of the initial pain, but settled down again so quickly no-one watching would've noticed it happened.

After mentally counting down seven minutes Bakura withdrew, ran his tongue over the area to seal the cuts, and allowed Yugi to cuddle him the rest of the night serving his role of teddy bear that kept nightmares and threats at bay as promised.

A/N: Four chapters in 2 days, can you believe it? I'd like to thank you all for the support and I hope you enjoy this chapter! And please do review me your thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Usually I just get straight to the chapter, but today I'm going to take a moment to answer questions I've received from reviewers and friends alike who've been kind enough to read the story.

Question 1: How come Yugi doesn't have bangs but instead has locks of hair framing his face?

Answer: Since this is an AU I decided to take some liberties with Yugi's hair. I've always thought "He's so cute! But he would look even more cute if his forehead was exposed." - So I used my fanfic to make it happen.

Question 2: Why does Ryou have green eyes if Bakura has brown ones?

Answer: Both times I've watched season zero Ryou's eyes were green while Bakura's were brown. It could very well be something wrong with the computers I watched it on but I liked Ryou with green eyes so I incorporated them into his appearance.

Question 3: Can you please let there be Tendershipping or Kleptoshipping?

Answer: Originally I wasn't planning on having either but I do have a bad habit of aiming to please so I've decided to give you guys some Tendershipping here and there. Kleptoshipping would probably cause me a major headache, but add some drama to the story, so for now I'm leaving whether or not it will be featured in this at a maybe. I don't want to ruin Yugi and Ryou's relationship by adding it but I do love the pairing so...yeah, like I said. Maybe.

Question 4: Have the Millennium Items been created yet? If so where are they?

Answer: Yes, but in this story I am reserving them being used for extremely rare situations so that is why they haven't been mentioned yet.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask them and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Chapter 5: Counter Productive

When morning came around Yugi fished a scroll and a quill out of the drawer of the nightstand to the right of his bed and started writing a letter to his father in which he requested a shipment of five hundred boxes of canned foods and one thousand boxes of water bottles.

After that he followed up the physical letter with an electronic one on his Supercell, rushed into his powder room to relieve himself - wash his face - and brush his teeth, went into the dressing room to grab an outfit for the day, and then locked himself in his washroom.

Bakura who had already gotten ready for the day, watched him with an amused expression on his face; all the while wondering just how the little prince could be that full of energy so early in the morning. As soon as he heard the water running he turned his attention to Ryou who was making sure the food and drinks that had been brought for him and Yugi had not been tampered with.

Soundlessly he made his way over to him, before kissing the other albino's right cheek. Ryou dropped the spoon he'd been using to taste-test the food and drinks. It clattered lightly against the wooden table as his hands instinctively found their way to the sheathed sword on his lap. Bakura embraced him firmly at the waist, pressing his chest to Ryou's back and moving to nibble his ear.

Ryou relaxed a bit, gasping softly when Bakura's tongue dipped into his ear. He tilted his neck invitingly and moaned appreciatively as Bakura took to sucking on the space between it and his shoulder. He enjoyed the moment for a short time, but caused the vampire to release him by unsheathing his sword just slightly when a voice in the back of his mind reminded him of his duty.

Calming his rising body temperature and speeding heart rate he took one of the glasses of orange juice on the table and brought it to his lips. Bakura sat next to him watching as he slowly and silently sipped in the beverage. The fingers of his left hand danced up the arm that remained loosely gripped to Ryou's newly fully sheathed sword of their own accord until they made contact with the elbow length sleeves of the attendant's chosen kimono for the day.

"Please stop." Ryou whispered, shivering slightly as the fingers danced their way back down to his hand, whimpering when Bakura grasped it firmly, and brought it to his lips for a kiss to the palm and a gentle caress to the back.

"You know that if you truly wanted me to, I would." Bakura shifted Ryou until they were face to face and whispered that against his lips before claiming them with his own, slipping his tongue into the other man's warm mouth, and proceeding to explore it thoroughly.

Upon recovering from his shock at Bakura's actions, Ryou quickly put down the half empty glass of orange juice that he had been holding tight enough to make it crack, and releasing a half sigh-half gasp returned the kiss. Bakura chuckled into the kiss triumphantly when Ryou used his tongue to play-fight with his own.

Accidentally during a game of cat and mouse one of his fangs grazed Ryou's tongue and the human made to break away, but Bakura moved his sword to the table and drew Ryou into his lap wrapping an arm around his waist possessively and supporting his back with the other, his fingers hiding within the white tresses behind Ryou's head.

He ignored the acidic taste Ryou's blood left on his tongue continuing to kiss him for several minutes easing Ryou's worries and causing him to once again respond. The two eventually came up for air, Ryou resting his head against Bakura's shoulder and moving his hands to his hair to play with the beautiful tresses that were so much like his own. Bakura pulled his cape around covering Ryou with it as he held him tightly and protectively.

"Come to the local oasis with me today." He said, placing a loving kiss to the other man's head.

"You know I can't 'Kura. I need to watch Yugi." Ryou remarked, the voice in his mind calling out once more.

"That excuse is getting really old Yadonushi [1]." Bakura said, redepositing him on the other stool.

"I know." The attendant supplied quietly.

"But it's all I can say." He lamented.

"You can travel at the speed of light. I can sense if he's in danger from miles away. Isn't that enough?" Bakura remarked, crossing his arms over his chest as Ryou fastened his sword to his back and let his white mane hide it almost entirely as usual.

"Not while we're in foreign territory. You knew of my devotion to this job long before we started this...thing. If what you want is someone who can devote their entire life solely to you, then we might as well end this here and now." Ryou countered, picking up a slice of toast with jam.

Bakura didn't know what to say to that, so he just ran to the balcony and jumped off, disappearing to the untrained eye as he sped away from the Egyptian palace. Ryou held back his sorrow finishing his breakfast quickly.

Yugi who had been watching the argument from the slightly open door to his washroom, came to join him. He observed his attendant unsure of what to say or do.

"Do you love him?" He finally asked, fastening his swords to his sides and back.

"Pardon?" Ryou retorted, folding his hands on his lap.

"Do you love him or is this just something you two do for mutual pleasure?" Yugi inquired, louder this time.

"What difference does it make?" Ryou asked, somewhat snippy.

"Just humor me Ryou." Yugi ordered, quite sharply.

"I do love him." Ryou said, sighing, deflating slightly.

"I can't give you up every day, and at night I'd much like to continue being selfish by hogging him, but I can go without you until midnight on weekends since they tend to be downtime days so I can focus on being alert more consistently. Fair enough?" Yugi spoke carefully, analytically.

Yugi quickly found himself in a crushing hug as Ryou thanked him repeatedly. The Japanese prince sighed exasperatedly, nevertheless returning the hug.

Eventually Ryou let him go and he was able to eat his breakfast. The two then left for the throne room to meet with Aknamkanon. Atem joined them on the way, taking notice of the fact that both Yugi and Ryou's necks were red, but deciding not to inquire about it just yet.

"Hey Atem?" Yugi called, looking over at the other prince.

"Yes Yugi?" The Egyptian supplied, trying but failing to keep himself from staring at Yugi's reddened neck.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Yugi asked, not noticing what he was doing.

"Yes, why?" Atem inquired in return.

"I just figured you'd have a rough one after what you learned is all. I'm glad that wasn't the case." Yugi replied.

"I probably would have, if I hadn't blocked that information from my mind." Atem confessed, and Ryou laughed.

"Pray tell attendant, what is so amusing?" He bit, glaring at the man.

"My apologies Prince Atem." Ryou said with a quick bow.

"It's just that you and Yugi have similar ways of dealing with hurtful knowledge." He explained.

"Hurtful knowledge? You're saying Yugi has been hurt in some way? That is hard to believe." Atem was genuinely confused by Ryou's explanation; to him Yugi appeared to be too strong to be truly hurt by anyone.

"Naturally. That which has a heart can and will be hurt." Ryou said, watching his charge's disposition drop considerably.

"What happened to him?" Atem inquired, having noticed it as well.

"It is not for me to tell, though I will say that multiple parties were involved and Yugi was barely twelve when it happened." Ryou replied, before excusing himself and rushing after his charge who had broken into a run.

"Hey, wait up!" Atem exclaimed, breaking into a run himself.

When the two managed to catch up to Yugi it was too late for Ryou to check up on him or for Atem to asked him what had happened to him in the past. Yugi was already in the throne room conversing with the pharaoh. The rest of the morning went by slowly.

Aknamkanon, Yugi, Atem, Ryou, and the priests that made up Aknamkanon's council were all seated behind a long table listening to the concerns, complaints, and needs of the people who lived in Khemet. While this turned out to be productive it was also counter productive, fore a monk came in around noon exclaiming that the Millennium Items had been stolen.

"Are you certain of what you say my good man?" The Pharaoh inquired strongly, barely maintaining his composure.

"Yes Pharaoh, the sacred vault they were being kept in for protection was raided by a gang of thieves. In addition to the items they also took some holy scriptures and set the hidden library within the vault ablaze." The man reported, only to keel over and die, throwing knives embedded in his skull, neck, and multiple places on his back.

Yugi and Atem looked away, but Ryou suddenly jumped up onto the table and ordered everyone to get down.

All of a sudden knives were coming from every direction. As Ryou deflected them, protecting his charge, Aknamkanon, Atem, and the priests many people who had not heeded his order were slain. They piled up all over, covering the beautiful floor with their lifeless bodies as they bled out.

Aknamkanon noticed sadly that the ones throwing the knives were the one hundred soldiers he'd hired for protection.

When the men ran out of knives they took out their swords. Ryou rushed them shouting the okay to Yugi to join in and the little prince did not need to be told twice. In just a few minutes they had subdued all one hundred of them. Some had been knocked unconscious, others sustained crippling but non lethal injuries.

A hidden archer notched an arrow and let it fly. It sunk deep into the back of Ryou's right shoulder causing him to drop his sword and cry out in pain. Yugi shredded every other arrow the archer fired their way, and went to catch Ryou as he stumbled to his knees, but Bakura beat him to it.

"Sorry I'm late Chibi, the place was crawling with traitors. Though I can't say I blame them for letting themselves be bought given this empire's current crisis." The vampire supplied dully.

Knocking Ryou unconscious and pulling the arrow out, he began to suck the poison that had entered the attendant's blood stream out of him.

"Bakura, you shouldn't do that. You know what his blood can do to you." Yugi said, crouching next to him, and worriedly gazing from him and Ryou, one sword still at the ready, in case something else happened.

"I would rather be sick for a while than let Ryou die." Bakura remarked after spitting some blood onto the floor, then returned to extracting the poison until the dosage that remained in Ryou was not life threatening.

"My my, just look at the wonderful show that has erupted here." A sadistic male voice rang through the room.

"You, this is all because of you isn't it?" Yugi inquired angrily, getting up and facing the newcomer who had barely entered the room.

"Yes, and if you want it to stop you will come with me." The man said, stepping fully into the room, and turning around enough, to reveal the small shackled and gagged child he held at dagger point.

A few more men stepped in with hostages. Two had little girls, the third had a boy like the leader did, and the fourth and fifth had women.

"Stop this at once!" Aknamkanon ordered.

"What kind of cowards are you?" Seto added.

"Why are you doing this?" Atem asked, running forward, but Yugi knocked him to the floor with the hilt of the sword in his hand.

"You've had this planned a long time haven't you?" The little prince asked, unfastening the swords on his back and the one on his left side.

"Yes Prince Yugi. I have waited years for this day." The man replied, laughing heartily.

"You seem to know of me, but I unfortunately do not know of you. Do you have a name?" Yugi threw his swords sheathes and all, in random directions around the room, and began walking forward, ignoring the protests from the priests, Bakura, Atem, and Aknamkanon.

"The name's Akefia and yes I do know of you. The light of hope within the Japanese empire. I've had a vendetta against the pharaoh for as long as I can remember, and when word got out that you were coming here, I knew my opportunity to strike would come." The man remarked.

"Your kindness was a strength in your country, but here it is your greatest weakness." As though to prove the last bit of his monologue true, Akefia gave a signal to one of his followers.

A simultaneous cry rang out, as two arrows struck Bakura's back, and the hostages Akefia and his men held were all ungagged just so they could scream as their throats were slit. Akefia quickly threw the boy he'd killed aside and grabbed Yugi while he was still in shock.

After binding Yugi's wrists with rope and cuffs, he shackled him, threw him over his shoulder and sprinted out of the room yelling at his men to fall back all the way through to the exit of the palace. He then deposited Yugi onto a chariot and got on himself.

Yugi felt the movement as the chariot took off away from the palace and bowed his head to hide the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He bit his lip every now and then to keep silent as he allowed them to fall shortly into the ride.

"You can make a little noise little one. I know you're crying." Akefia said, not sounding at all like he did back in the throne room, but Yugi chose to ignore him.

A/N: Well everything sure went to hell pretty quickly huh? Let me know what you think guys.

[1] Yadonushi - Japanese for Landlord. It's what Bakura calls Ryou quite frequently in the original Japanese anime. I think he even called Ryou this once or twice in season zero. I felt obligated to use it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Start of A Game

While Aknamkanon, the council, and the royal army – tried to get the citizens of Khemet under control after the panic that had spread because of the incident with the thieves, Atem was down in the dungeons with a medical team helping them treat Ryou and Bakura however he could.

Other medical teams worked on the soldiers that Ryou and Yugi had subdued. It took all afternoon to complete these tasks and by then no-one was in much of a fighting mood. The palace was eerily quiet. Atem met up with his father in the drawing room to talk and to report the progress in the dungeons.

"Father, the situation with the prisoners as well as Ryou and Bakura is now under control." He reported dully, as he sat down across from him.

"Well that's one thing taken care of at least." The pharaoh chimed.

"However, because the Millennium Items have been stolen we will have to resort to older rather untoward methods of getting information out of the prisoners tomorrow if we ever intend to rescue Yugi." He admonished solemnly.

"After what they did, I'd say they deserve a little torture." Atem supplied darkly.

"But moving to a more pertinent matter, why did you have Ryou and Bakura moved to the dungeons for treatment? They have not done anything to warrant suspicions have they?" He asked.

"Given the circumstances I cannot fully trust anyone, my son." Aknamkanon admonished, making Atem flinch.

"I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded." He tried to amend, realizing his mistake, but Atem just raised a hand to keep him from trying further, showing him that the damage had been done.

Aknamkanon sighed heavily at this, thinking for a moment before speaking again.

"I was not informed of Bakura's presence here, so for all I know he could be a spy. That needs to be cleared up. And I have questions for Ryou as well. If they have nothing to hide things should go smoothly. In their current conditions neither one of them will be able to put up much of a fight and there are barriers in place either way. Bakura's need to feed eventually will prove useful as well if they choose to be difficult." He supplied as explanation for his actions.

"I think you're making a mistake. Ryou defended us even though he only needed to defend Yugi. And although Bakura fought purely for the sake of reaching Yugi and Ryou he never harmed anyone innocent. We would have heard complaints from the people of relatives disappearing or dying suddenly under mysterious circumstances." Atem remarked.

"Then there is the fact that Yugi is the best person alive to clear this all up and those two are capable of locating him easily according to him. He could be killed at any moment if we don't make a move. Things would move much faster if you'd just trust Ryou and Bakura." He admonished.

"When I hand you this country you may test that theory my son. For now however, I'm in charge here." Aknamkanon said, before dismissing him.

On Yugi's end the situation wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly good either. Akefia had taken him to the ruins of a village called Kul Elna.

He had had his men search Yugi for hidden weapons and forced him to change into a mud colored long sleeved shirt and grey pants right in front of him wanting to sell Yugi's original clothes for the hefty sum they would fetch, but allowed him to keep his boots and was surprised when Yugi thanked him for it. He almost felt bad for kidnapping the little prince, almost.

Now Yugi was on a bed inside a run down storage shed, with a dog collar around his neck and the cord of it tied to a brass headboard. His legs had been re-shackled but his hands were free. Yugi's boots rested on the floor near the bed, while their owner lay curled up and staring at the wall the bed was pushed up against.

The smell of cream stew flowed in through the small barred windows scattered about, where moonlight crept in and illuminated the shed, but Yugi was not concerned with whether or not Akefia or his men would see fit to bring him any food. He wasn't concerned with it at all.

No, Yugi just didn't want to fall asleep. The Japanese prince genuinely believed that without Bakura around for him to cling to in his sleep he would be plagued by nightmares of the worst day of his life.

The gears in his brain started working as he thought of the vampire and Yugi wondered if Bakura and Ryou were alright and how Khemet and its rulers were holding up after the chaos of the day. He started to pray quietly, but his prayers were interrupted when someone entered the shed.

Yugi knew from the sound of the footsteps that it was Akefia himself rather than any of his followers. Slowly he turned over to look at the man. Akefia held a tray with a bowl of cream stew – accompanied by a spoon, an apple, and a glass of milk.

Yugi took in the man's appearance as he approached. Akefia had shoulder length unkempt white hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. There was a scar on the left side of his face spanning from right above his cheek to just before his eyebrow. Yugi was curious about the scar but decided it was better not to ask about it.

Akefia's attire consisted of a red robe tied at the waist, that left his muscular chest mostly exposed, grey shorts, and rubber sandals reinforced with soaked straw wrappings to both provide comfort and prevent the rubber and straw from serving as an incinerator for each other in the heatwave prone country, though Akefia's feet were bandaged by wet cloths as a secondary means of protection anyway. It was clear that the thief was very resourceful.

Akefia placed the tray on the nightstand next to the bed and reached out to remove the dog collar from Yugi's neck. Thankful for the action Yugi massaged his neck and sat up. He was surprised when Akefia started to remove his shackles.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, but aren't you afraid I'll try to escape?" He asked.

"I think you're smart enough not to try." The thief replied.

"And the food?" Yugi asked.

"You've been well behaved." Akefia replied with a shrug.

"How long will you be in here?" The prince asked, as Akefia placed the tray in front of him.

"Half hour or so. Long enough for you to eat and walk a little. One of my men will take you to relieve yourself and bathe in the stream nearby after that, and when you get back there will be fresh clothes for you to sleep in waiting for you. Tomorrow I will tell you, or rather show you, the reason behind your kidnapping." Akefia replied.

Yugi was almost finished consuming his stew by the end of the explanation.

"You're giving me some awfully nice treatment just for good behavior. Why is that?" He threw back, before biting into the apple.

"I'll admit this is the first time I've ever treated a captive so nicely, but I'd prefer to keep my reasons to myself for the time being." Akefia replied.

"Fair enough." Yugi said, dropping the core of the apple he'd just finished into the now empty bowl on the tray, and quickly downing the glass of milk.

"Give the meal five minutes to settle into your system and then find your balance and walk around for a bit." Akefia ordered, grabbing the tray, and walking over to the door where he handed it off to one of his men.

That night Yugi fell asleep upside down despite himself in clothes not unlike the ones he'd been forced to change into once already, the shirt a faded blue color and the pants a dulled forest green. There were no restraints on him whatsoever.

His brain barely registered the fact he had been drugged and he blacked out with a slight frown on his face. He'd thought Akefia was above such a trick.

The thief came in at some point with a syringe and left with a vial full of the little prince's blood. Akefia fished through a trunk in the hut next door for the clothes he'd taken from Yugi and stained them with the blood. Wrapping them up in a package he handed them over to one of his men and ordered him to deliver it to the palace by sunrise.

"Of course sir, but might I be so bold and inquire about what's in here?" His follower inquired curiously.

"Let's just say it's a present that will cause a nice little headache if it reaches the right hands." Akefia replied, and the man chuckled.

"Then you know I'll get it to them. Later Boss." He said, before walking away.

Akefia watched the man ride out of sight and checked in on Yugi one more time before retiring for the night.

A/N: Well there goes another chapter. Review me your thoughts. And thank you for all your support until now. You've been great! Truly, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A Game of Intimacy

Atem didn't sleep at all the night of Yugi's kidnapping. He was up until a little after sunrise, making posters in which he asked that anyone with information about Akefia or Yugi's whereabouts come forward and ask for an audience directly with him.

In hopes of getting fast results he didn't offer a reward, merely stating that anyone who came forward with information could have anything they wanted, so long as it was within reason. Exhaustion caught up with him just after he'd finished the five hundredth poster.

His father came to check on him when he didn't show up for breakfast and found him asleep with his head on his arms which were crossed on top of the last poster. Aknamkanon carried his son from the desk he'd been working at to his bed and tucked him in after removing his shoes and cape.

The pharaoh then gathered the posters and took them with him to the priests quarters. He quickly found Seto, Mahad, and Karim and handed them each a chunk of the posters, before instructing them to hang them up in the city and hand some out in the surrounding towns and villages.

Noticing that the posters were Atem's handiwork, the three priests gladly went to carry out their orders. They were not much older than Atem was, at just twenty years of age, and had been his friends since childhood. The fact that their prince did not often concern himself with the responsibilities his status brought, meant that they were more than happy to help however they could when he did. Mahad and Karim considered Atem the brother they always wanted and Seto was Atem's cousin. The trio couldn't wait until Atem ruled Egypt having grown weary of Aknamkanon's ways long ago.

On the way back from delivering the package Akefia had handed off to him, the faithful follower of the master thief came across one of the posters Atem had made. He grabbed it and took it back with him. Akefia was with Yugi in the holding shed when he found him. The foreign prince was just finishing a bowl of porridge when he walked in and looked well rested, but edgier than the last time he'd seen him. This led the man to believe Yugi had figured out that Akefia drugged him the previous night.

"You're late." Akefia admonished, turning to his pawn.

"I think you'll find my tardiness forgettable considering I brought this, Boss." The man remarked, handing him the poster.

"Well, they certainly found their footing faster than anticipated." Akefia said, after looking the poster over.

"Your fellow prince seems determined to find you Yugi." He commented, giving the little prince the poster.

"Can I trust you delivered the package I entrusted you with to the right hands?" He inquired, turning his attention to his pawn once more.

"Of course. Our dear prince Atem was asleep, so I left it on the ottoman at the foot of his bed." The man replied.

"Perfect. Spread the word that everyone should be ready to change location by sundown and then go get yourself something to eat and rest up. I still have business to take care of here." Akefia said, causing the pawn to bow and leave the shed.

"You look surprised." He veered, as he sat down next to his captive.

"I didn't think Atem could be this hands on is all." Yugi said.

"From what I've seen and heard, he rarely is. You must either be very special, or he must feel highly obligated by duty to save you." Akefia retorted.

"Regardless, if Atem made this then I am very flattered. This country lacks the technological advancements some others possess. That rules out a copy machine, so my guess is this poster, and any others out there like it, were hand made." Yugi said, folding up the poster.

"I would like to keep it if you don't mind." He informed.

"That depends," Akefia began, bringing Yugi's left hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to its back.

"On your reason why." He concluded, covering his captive's hand in kisses and sucking on the index finger despite the prince's protests.

"Scared?" He asked, as Yugi managed to recover his hand.

"I have been pursued enough to know, when the one pursuing me is playing with me, or harassing me." Yugi replied.

He was not expecting to find himself straddled, with Akefia grinding against him or one of said man's hands beneath his shirt, perversely fondling his chest. He turned his head away when the thief started coming in with the clear intention of claiming his lips.

"Still think I'm playing Sweetheart?" Akefia whispered against Yugi's ear, bathing it with his tongue.

"Ah!" Yugi moaned despite himself, slowly growing hard, as Akefia ground harder against him, shuddering at the feel of the other man's tongue in his ear, as it wormed its way in.

"You don't scare me." He declared repeatedly, as Akefia continued his minstrations.

Akefia sucked at a patch of the skin on Yugi's neck, grinding harder still against his captive. Yugi struggled against him, as he sloppily tore the shirt Yugi wore with a knife. The little prince desperately tried to take the knife from him, but couldn't focus very long on his task, because Akefia licked his cheek - stunning him temporarily, and latched his mouth onto one of his nipples. He then began sucking on it, occasionally teasing it with a few swirls of his tongue.

"Ah! Oh, now you're just being a jerk!" He cried out, as the thief bit down on the hardening nub.

Akefia gathered Yugi's hands above his head and pinned them there with the knife he'd used to cut the prince's shirt open. He then claimed Yugi's lips with his own, forcing his tongue into the prince's mouth and exploring it thoroughly for a good while. He pulled away to take in the sight of his breathless captive.

Yugi's eyes were barely open, hints of disbelief laced within them. His chest rose and fell rapidly, the little muscle he had there gleaming with sweat that had gathered due to the sudden rise in the prince's body temperature. The locks of hair that usually framed Yugi's face, were sticking to it for the same reason.

The rest of the prince's hair was scattered about, surprisingly untainted by the blood that had begun to seep out of Yugi's stabbed hand palms, onto the sheets and mattress below, but the stab itself had been nearly painless and it wasn't like Yugi could focus on the fact he'd just been injured. Akefia wasn't giving him time to truly register it.

"No Yugi, now I'm just being downright mean." The thief declared, smirking at the surprise that flooded the prince's eyes momentarily, before his mouth returned to the foreigner's chest.

Akefia's tongue roamed Yugi's chest, mouth closing around a nipple to suck harshly at the nub every now and then. The thief removed Yugi's pants with a massive struggle from the prince, but he just laughed while Yugi fought him, claiming that the fight only served to make his victory sweeter.

The still growing bulge in Yugi's underwear made him smirk up at the prince, and he was bold enough to reach down into the foreigner's underwear and touch his incomplete erection, before his mouth began a descent from the prince's neck to his thighs, but before he could reach his destination, Yugi's retaliation hit a successful level.

"Like I said, you don't scare me, but you've taken this game far enough." Yugi hissed, after landing a few good kicks, which forced Akefia off of him, and onto his back on the floor.

The thief watched both stunned and impressed, as Yugi twisted his body in unique ways, and managed to remove the knife that was lodged into the palms of his hands with the soles of his feet.

The prince quickly wrapped some of the blanket he'd been using to keep warm while he slept around one of his hands, to stop the bleeding that had grown faster after the knife was dislodged, and began to cut a piece to wrap his other hand in, with none other than the knife that was responsible for his wounds.

Akefia got up from the floor and fetched a first aid kit from elsewhere in the shed. Without offering an explanation, he began to treat the wounded hands of the prince. Yugi tossed the knife to the floor and allowed him to do so. His eyes remained on the floor, gazing upon the now bloodstained folded poster, which had been stabbed by the knife he'd tossed. Akefia glanced over when he finished his task, to see what had held Yugi's attention for so long.

"Oh yeah, you never did let go of that thing did you? I bet it fell when you dislodged the knife. Ironic that you would cut through it yourself when you tossed that very knife, is it not?" He offered as a conversation starter, picking up the pants he'd forced off the prince and holding them out to him.

"You didn't bring me here to indulge in my defilement did you? If you did you may as well do so and kill me now." Yugi remarked, not shifting his attention away from the knifed poster.

"As fun as it would be, it is not my intention. I respect you too much for that." Akefia stated, dropping the pants and pulling Yugi to him.

"Atem's going to be a lucky man if you converge with him. You are like a gift from the gods." He added, in a rather spiteful tone.

"I simply don't understand you." Yugi said with a sigh, welcoming Akefia's embrace.

"You aren't supposed to." The thief admonished, chuckling as Yugi snuggled into the embrace.

"You're warm." The prince informed him, but Akefia only chuckled louder at this excuse, then allowed silence to reign, as he held the foreign prince tightly.

"Do you love him?" He asked suddenly, sounding serious.

"Love who?" Yugi countered, confused, nearly asleep from the gentle beat of the thief's heart.

"Atem, little one, do you love Atem?" Akefia inquired, making himself clearer.

"I hadn't met him until very shortly before you kidnapped me. And I agreed to marry him purely to keep a promise I made. So really whether I love him now, if ever, – doesn't really matter. This game you enjoy playing with your captives, Atem could play it to the finish line and beyond with me even if I wished otherwise after I become his consort." Yugi replied.

"I had every intention of releasing you after I had gotten what I wanted from you, but now I am not so sure I want to." Akefia said.

"Avoiding my betrothed will not help in the least. You should hurry up and reveal the reason why I'm here." The prince countered.

"Tomorrow little one. Your betrothed has unfortunately made a move that means we will have to move even further away from Khemet, and that means I must leave you for now." The thief said, releasing the prince.

"Fine, but do you have any good reading material? It gets boring being in here alone. And I'll need a new shirt thanks to your game." Yugi said, looking crestfallen at the loss of warmth.

"I'll see what I can do, but stop being a whiny little brat. It does not befit you in the slightest." Akefia said, nodding at the pants Yugi had yet to put back on, as he walked backwards towards the door.

"You should put those on." He added, as an extra hint, laughing when Yugi pulled the remains of the blanket he'd been using to keep warm at night over his lap with a sudden flush of embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, are you always so clingy with those who offer you warmth?" He inquired, coming back into the shed a few seconds after leaving it.

"Well that came out of nowhere." Yugi said, and Akefia was a little bummed that he was wearing the pants again.

"Are you?" He pressed, and Yugi sighed, suddenly depressed.

"No, you just remind me of someone that I pray is alive and well right now." The prince replied, hugging his knees to his chest.

"You can see for yourself in three days. If you can accomplish what I need you to do, you'll be free to go by then." Akefia said.

"I won't hold you to that after your trickery last night." Yugi remarked.

"Fair enough. I'll not apologize for it mind you. You should know better than to trust a thief." Akefia countered, and Yugi couldn't say anything to that.

Roughly twenty minutes passed and Akefia came back to the shed with a thick book that he tossed across the space to the bed, where it landed on the pillow. He also tossed a new shirt onto Yugi's lap.

"Then again, if you can't trust me, you're going to lose your sanity during this kidnapping very soon." The thief said, before leaving to get ready for the change of location.

'Honestly, this guy's been the highlight of my time here in Egypt. I just might like it if he keeps me captive for a long while.' Yugi thought leaving the book and the new shirt alone for the time being.

'And it might prove productive in drawing Atem out of his shell as well.' He realized, before staring at the knifed poster once more with a huge frown.

'That is a very bad sign. I stabbed through a potential love by stabbing that poster. Does that mean I'm doomed to a life of unhappiness if I converge with Atem?' Yugi tore his gaze from the knifed poster, refusing to dwell on such depressive thoughts for too long.

He changed into the new shirt Akefia had brought him and distanced himself from the world around him by engrossing himself in the story written within the book said thief had brought him.

Over at the palace Atem slept the bulk of the day away, oblivious to the fact Yugi was beginning to enjoy his time with Akefia, and the torture that unfolded that afternoon in the dungeons.

A/N: Well that was fun to write. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Let me know your thoughts. Bye for now.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Heba and Abigail

Aknamkanon sighed mentally, a frown blooming on his face. All afternoon he had been interrogating Ryou and Bakura, without any progress at all. The foreigners were remarkably resilient. They had been striped down to their underwear and forced to endure hours of beatings, whippings, stoning, and scald-waxing. The pharaoh face-palmed when Bakura suddenly faded away.

"Congratulations Pharaoh. Yugi's vampire boyfriend just decided you aren't worth any more of his time." Ryou said, chuckling a bit.

"If you are serious, I can assume that your charge is no longer pure correct?" The monarch inquired.

"You can think whatever you'd like. I will just enjoy messing with you good sir." Ryou replied.

"I do not understand why you are treating this like it's some kind of game." Aknamkanon said.

"However, the longer you refuse to answer, the longer this will continue." He admonished.

"You will not change my resolve Pharaoh, but feel free to keep trying." Ryou remarked, encouragingly.

"Fine. Have it your way." The monarch said, getting up from the chair he was sitting in outside of the cell.

"If you would cooperate your dear charge would be safe and sound much faster, but if that is not enough incentive for you, perhaps three days without food or water will do the trick." That said, Aknamkanon left the dungeons.

He would've sent Isis and a medical team to treat Ryou since he didn't want the man dying on him as it might just cause some problems in the future, but he chose to put it off until morning. He was tired and he figured letting Ryou suffer the pain of his injuries for the night would jump-start the process of getting him to cooperate. Aknamkanon freshened up and crawled under his comforter ready for a rest, but just as he was getting to sleep the door knocker to his chamber sounded.

"You may enter." He said, sitting up in his four-poster bed.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Father, but I thought I should show you this." Atem said, making his way over and kneeling by the bed.

"What have you got there?" Aknamkanon asked, nodding at the package in his son's lap.

"I found this on the ottoman at the foot of my bed when I woke up." Atem said, placing the package on the bed and opening it.

"Are those what I think they are?" The pharaoh asked, staring at the clothes Atem took out of the box.

"Yes. These are indeed Yugi's clothes." Atem replied, sighing.

"They're covered in blood." He added sadly.

"No-one ever said Akefia was trustworthy. You shouldn't be surprised he hurt Yugi." Aknamkanon said.

"But I don't even know if this is Yugi's blood or not. And the way it's clinging to the clothes, makes it appear more like someone stained the clothes, than them being naturally soaked." Atem countered, wincing as he felt the beginnings of a headache hitting him.

"I would not be surprised if that were true. Akefia could've taken some of Yugi's blood, stained his clothes with it, and had them delivered to you in order to get you rattled up. Don't let it get to you. If I am correct, Akefia will keep Yugi alive for a while yet. If only to mess with us or to use him as a bargaining chip." Aknamkanon admonished.

"Can I show these to Ryou and Bakura? I know you don't trust them, but even you must know it's the right thing to do." Atem veered, putting the clothes back in the box.

"Bakura faded away near the end of the torture session I put them through this afternoon, but you can show Ryou in the morning after he's been treated. He may just cooperate with me if he sees them." Aknamkanon said, after some minutes of silence.

"If Yugi ever ends up back here, he's going to want your head for torturing those two." Atem admonished, getting up.

"He'll let it go, for the sake of avoiding war if nothing else." His father retorted easily, as he watched him leave.

"Goodnight!" The pharaoh exclaimed, as the door to his chamber slammed shut.

Atem returned to his own chamber and started making more posters. He would have them spread to the rest of the Egyptian empire by traveling lower ranked religious figures and merchants. At daybreak he stopped making posters to go and pray at Ra's alter for Yugi's safety.

As Atem prayed, Akefia was tucking Yugi into a bed within a room on the top floor of a tower located a good few days from Khemet. The little prince had fallen asleep during the change in location and Akefia didn't have the heart to wake him.

"He should probably be well rested for what I need him to do anyway." The thief muttered, trying to justify his kindness to the foreigner, as he settled into an armchair in a corner of the room.

Twenty minutes later Akefia left the room and went into the one next door. The reason why he'd kidnapped Yugi was asleep in the large bed in the middle of the room. She was his spitting image save for the obvious differences caused by gender and the lack of a scar on her face. A cold rag was folded upon her forehead and she was feverish and breathing hard. Akefia sat on the bed holding her right hand and prayed that Yugi would be able to make her well again. His twin was the only family he had left and he didn't want to lose her.

It was another three hours before Yugi was awake and Akefia immediately brought him to the room his twin was in. Yugi did not protest, wanting to finally learn why he had been kidnapped. He was certainly not expecting an ailing woman who was clearly related to Akefia. Said thief sat Yugi down on the bed and returned to holding his sister's hand, this time while kneeling at her bedside.

"This here is what's become of my twin Abigail. When we were six years old a sacrificial massacre took place in our village Kul Elna as ordered by Aknamkanon. We were spared because they only needed one hundred souls. Somehow a mixture of black and white magic combined with the blood and souls of the sacrifices gave birth to the Millennium Items that so many Egyptians are proud of." He began speaking of chapters in his life to the prince, never once looking away from his ailing twin, and Yugi remained silent listening intently.

"After that Abigail and I struggled to survive for the rest of our childhood. When we were ten people stopped pitying us. No longer did anyone offer us food or shelter. We had to steal and incapacitate others to get by. By the age of twelve we had gained the bad reputation we're famous for today and when we were thirteen we started our thieves guild. By the time we were sixteen we'd committed nearly every crime and sin you could think of. We were so far-gone we forgot what it means to be human." Akefia stopped his tale to finally look at Yugi, who had one eye on Abigail and the other on him.

"A profession like your own is expected to do that to people, but you seem pretty human to me so something must've made you remember the self you had forsaken over the years." The foreign prince said knowingly.

"Heh, you don't know the half of it." Akefia said, chuckling.

"To paint a clear picture of our lack of limits for you, I was the one who deflowered Abigail." He informed.

"That's not uncommon among twins." Yugi said, averting his eyes to his hands which he'd placed in his lap when Akefia began his tale.

"I used to have a twin, and we used to fool around sexually until his unfortunate death." He informed.

"Surprise surprise. I was expecting that bit of information to bother you, but it turns out you've been there on some level." Akefia said, clearly amused.

"You'll just have to try harder then won't you?" Yugi bit back, with a smirk.

"Anyway, what was it that made you remember your forsaken self?" He added, seriously curious.

"That would be you. Tales of you often spread like wildfire. You're the talk of the world Prince Yugi. Somehow, even without knowing me, you managed to spark a change within me. You gave me a new purpose. I wanted to be like you. So I started to treat the people around me better. I still make an example out of people sometimes, as you saw in the palace, but I'm a far less mechanical and cruel person. And I'm not sure if I should thank you or strangle you." Akefia explained.

"While I have no idea why you'd want to be like me, I seem to have been a good influence on you, so whatever floats your boat I suppose, will have to do for now. There's no need to thank me, but neither is there reason to strangle me." Yugi said, causing Akefia to laugh.

"Such a neutral response. I should've known." He said, upon settling down.

"If my sources are correct you are an accomplished healer dear prince." The thief said seriously, as they made direct eye contact.

"That is correct. I am one of the best at healing magic in my country." Yugi confirmed, reaching out to ruffle Akefia's hair.

"I take it you kidnapped me in hopes that I would heal Abigail." He said, knowingly.

"Indeed. Abigail has been influenced by you just as I have. She's determined to leave this life behind if she recovers. In the event that she does, I will keep our thieves guild going in case she needs a stable fallback if she fails and watch over her to make sure she's okay in her new life." Akefia explained.

It was silent for a good twenty minutes thereafter and then Yugi reached his hands out placing one on Abigail's chest where her heart lay and the other on her stomach. Magical and mystical energies began to flow from Yugi to Abigail and back. Akefia watched in silence mentally praying.

After the first hour passed Akefia could hear Yugi speaking in his native language rather than the universal language that was spoken by most of the known world and used when people not from the same country wanted to communicate more easily. Three and a half more hours passed by before Yugi collapsed next to Abigail, breathing hard and smiling triumphantly.

"Did you do it? Is she well again?" Akefia asked, examining his sister before making to wipe some sweat off of Yugi's forehead and having to pull his hand back.

"You're burning!" He exclaimed, confusion evident in his eyes.

"You're growing more pale and your lips are turning purple too." He added, feeling his heart fail him for a moment when Yugi began to cough and covered his mouth with his shirt to keep germs from spreading.

"Yugi, what did you do?" He asked, after the prince's coughing fit had ended.

"I have never tried to heal someone so thoroughly ridden with illness. So rather than remove it all I took some of it into myself." Yugi replied, surprising Akefia, but he did not give the thief time to truly register his words, instead speaking once more.

"You should get me back to the other room so she won't catch anything. The combination of healing spells I used will strengthen her immune system to almost unbelievable levels, but for the next two days it'll be vulnerable. Stews, milk, and fruit juices would be ideal meals for her during that time, as she will need to build up her body's other strengths or it will begin to eat itself from the inside out. She should also stay indoors and rest for two weeks to avoid things like internal bleeding and fractures. Her bones and muscles are simply too weak right now." He explained.

Akefia heeded Yugi's words and took him back to the room he was keeping him in. He tucked the prince into the bed and sighed as the royal's face contorted with pain. Yugi rolled over and hugged the pillow in a most adorable way, as though clutching a teddy bear. Akefia left for a moment to explain to some of his men what the situation with Abigail was. When he returned he got in the bed and hugged Yugi to him. He was happy when Yugi snuggled up in his hold and rested his head upon his chest.

"Why would you do that?" He asked the small prince.

"Do what?" Yugi whispered back.

"Take someone's pain into yourself. I'd heard you are selfless but I never thought you could be quite this selfless." Akefia replied.

"If I hadn't done it she would've died. She's was more or less deteriorating. I'm surprised she lasted so long. I also did it because she's your twin and I know what it's like to live without your twin. Without your other half." Yugi said, unable to do much with his voice besides whispering.

"I never heard anything about you having a twin. What happened?" Akefia pressed him curiously.

"Back home there was a belief that there was no need for the existence of the weaker twin. Just barely after turning twelve twins were made to participate in a sword fight to the death. The last time this happened it was between myself and my twin brother Heba." Yugi informed, holding onto Akefia stronger than ever.

"We were equally skilled, and we became exhausted after hours of sword fighting. We thought they would see that we were the same in every sense of the word, but the lords and the now disbanded teams of advisors to my father wouldn't have it. They made us fight until we were half asleep. Heba and I decided to make them see how wrong such a practice was, by killing each other. At least, that's what I thought we'd agreed on." The prince stopped, the tears that had built up in his eyes were finally too many for him to hold in.

Akefia felt Yugi shudder violently as he began to cry, and he held the prince so tightly that they might just have melted into one being, trying his hardest to calm him down. He whispered sweet nothings to him and rubbed his back gently and soothingly. When Yugi had calmed down enough to form words again he completed his tale.

"Heba and I rushed each other intending to stab right through each other's hearts, but Heba stopped his sword right before its target, and dropped it. I didn't have time to do the same. I've blamed myself ever since. If I had just read the words he tried to convey with his eyes properly we'd both still be here now. After that I was depressed, suicidal, and above all, lost. My father passed a law that put an end to the practice, but that does me no good. Heba is dead. I killed the other half of me."

With his tale complete, the little prince burst into tears again mumbling his regrets and self hating, and the thief that had kidnapped him comforted him - finally admitting to himself, a truth he had not wanted to acknowledge - that he Akefia, a good for nothing Egyptian thief, had fallen in love with Prince Yugi of Japan, who was quite possibly the most noble royal to ever live. And he was sad, because he knew deep down…that he would have to let him go.

A/N: -relieved sigh- I finally got this chapter completed. It took me so long I was starting to think the story would not ever see another update. I just couldn't get what was in my head onto the document. I hope you'll forgive me for the late update and enjoy it. Until next time guys. Hopefully sooner than this one. Bye for now! Leave your thoughts!


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